Craig Chandler Price: The Warwick Serial Killer
Early Life and Background
Craig Chandler Price was born on October 11, 1973, and grew up in the Buttonwoods section of Warwick, Rhode Island. He became one of the youngest known serial killers in American history after murdering four people between the ages of 13 and 15. All four victims lived near his family’s home, making the crimes especially frightening to residents who realized that the killer had been moving unnoticed through their neighborhood.
Before he was identified as a murderer, Price had accumulated a juvenile record involving burglary and theft. He regularly entered neighborhood homes to steal money and valuables. His familiarity with the area allowed him to approach residences without attracting attention, and his first known murder occurred during one of these nighttime break-ins.
The Murder of Rebecca Spencer
On the night of July 27, 1987, 13-year-old Price entered the Warwick home of Rebecca Spencer, who lived only a short distance from his own house. Spencer was alone when Price entered. He obtained a knife from inside the residence and attacked her repeatedly, inflicting dozens of stab wounds before fleeing.
The extraordinary violence of the attack suggested intense rage, but investigators initially had little evidence identifying the killer. Because Price was a young neighborhood resident, he was not immediately considered a likely suspect. The murder remained unsolved for more than two years.
The Heaton Family Murders
During the night of September 1, 1989, Price entered another home in the Buttonwoods neighborhood. The residence belonged to Joan Heaton, who lived there with her two daughters, Jennifer and Melissa. Price was 15 years old at the time.
Price attacked Joan Heaton in the kitchen, stabbing her repeatedly. Jennifer encountered the attack and was also assaulted with extreme violence. Melissa, the youngest member of the family, was killed during the same invasion. Several knives were used, and investigators found that the force of the attacks had caused some of the handles to break.
The three members of the Heaton family were discovered inside their home during Labor Day weekend. The condition of the crime scene immediately indicated that the killer had used overwhelming and sustained force. Investigators noticed similarities between the Heaton murders and the previously unsolved killing of Rebecca Spencer, particularly the neighborhood location, the nighttime entry into the victims’ homes and the repeated use of knives.
Confirmed Victims
- Rebecca Spencer — Killed on July 27, 1987, inside her home in the Buttonwoods neighborhood of Warwick, Rhode Island. Price entered the residence when he was 13 years old, took a knife from the home and stabbed Spencer approximately 58 times.
- Joan M. Heaton — Killed on September 1, 1989, inside her family’s home in Warwick, Rhode Island. The 39-year-old mother was attacked in her kitchen and stabbed approximately 57 times.
- Jennifer Heaton — Killed on September 1, 1989, in the same Warwick residence. Joan Heaton’s 10-year-old daughter was stabbed repeatedly after encountering the attack on her mother.
- Melissa Heaton — Killed on September 1, 1989, inside the Heaton home in Warwick. Joan’s younger daughter, reported as seven or eight years old in different contemporary accounts, suffered numerous stab wounds and severe head injuries.
The Investigation
Police began concentrating on Price after discovering evidence suggesting that the person responsible for the Heaton murders had injured a hand during the attacks. The large number of wounds and the broken knives made it likely that the assailant had accidentally cut himself.
Investigators questioned neighborhood residents and learned that Price had a recently injured hand. He attempted to explain the wound by claiming that he had cut himself while breaking into a car, but officers became suspicious of his account. Evidence connected him to the Heaton residence, and Price eventually confessed to killing Joan, Jennifer and Melissa Heaton.
During questioning, Price also admitted responsibility for Rebecca Spencer’s 1987 murder. His confession solved a case that had remained open for more than two years and established that the same teenager had killed four neighbors in two separate attacks.
Arrest and Juvenile Proceedings
Price was arrested in September 1989, approximately one month before his 16th birthday. Despite the number and severity of the murders, Rhode Island law required that he be handled as a juvenile because he had committed the crimes before reaching adulthood.
Under the laws then in effect, the juvenile court could initially hold Price only until his 21st birthday. His juvenile records were also subject to restrictions that prevented much of the evidence and many details of the murders from being immediately released to the public. The possibility that a person responsible for four murders could be released after only a few years created widespread anger throughout Rhode Island.
The case prompted residents and victims’ relatives to organize against Price’s release. A citizens’ group known as Citizens Opposed to the Release of Craig Price worked to keep public attention on the case and urged officials to find lawful grounds for continuing his confinement.
Psychological Evaluations and Additional Sentences
While confined, Price refused to cooperate fully with court-ordered psychological evaluations and treatment programs. His refusal led to contempt proceedings and additional criminal sentences. Authorities argued that evaluations were necessary to determine whether he continued to pose a serious danger.
Price also committed disciplinary and criminal offenses while incarcerated, including assaults, threats, fighting and escape-related misconduct. These offenses allowed courts to impose sentences extending beyond the date when his original juvenile confinement would otherwise have ended.
Psychologists and corrections officials repeatedly expressed concern about his aggression, lack of cooperation and poor prospects for rehabilitation. His violent behavior in custody strengthened arguments that releasing him would present a continuing danger to the public.
Violence in Prison
Price was eventually transferred from Rhode Island to the Florida prison system because of security and behavioral concerns. His violence continued after the transfer. In July 2009, he became involved in a prison confrontation in which a correctional officer was injured while attempting to intervene.
On April 4, 2017, Price attacked fellow Florida inmate Joshua Davis at Suwannee Correctional Institution in Live Oak. Price used a homemade knife and stabbed Davis during the assault. Davis survived, and Price was prosecuted for attempted murder.
On January 18, 2019, a Florida judge sentenced Price to 25 years in prison for the attack. The sentence ensured that he would remain incarcerated long after the expiration of several earlier sentences connected to his conduct in Rhode Island.
Effect on Rhode Island Law
The Price case exposed major weaknesses in Rhode Island’s juvenile justice laws. The public learned that even an offender who committed multiple intentional murders could receive a relatively short period of confinement if prosecuted entirely within the juvenile system.
Rhode Island subsequently changed its laws to make it easier for juveniles accused of serious violent crimes to be tried and sentenced as adults. Those changes could not be applied retroactively to Price’s murders, but the case became a prominent example in debates over how courts should handle young offenders accused of exceptionally severe crimes.
Legacy of the Case
Craig Chandler Price became widely known as the “Warwick Slasher” because of the location and method of his crimes. His age distinguished the case from most serial murder investigations, but the attacks demonstrated planning, repeated home invasions and a pattern of escalating violence.
The murders permanently affected the Warwick community and the families of Rebecca Spencer and Joan, Jennifer and Melissa Heaton. The case also produced decades of legal proceedings as prosecutors, judges and corrections officials sought to prevent Price’s release through sentences imposed for crimes and misconduct committed after his original juvenile adjudication.
Although Price killed his four confirmed victims before turning 16, his continued aggression in custody showed that his violence did not end with his 1989 arrest. His case remains one of the most disturbing examples of juvenile serial murder in the United States and one of the most influential criminal cases in the history of Rhode Island’s juvenile justice system.
